


Fight For Freedom

by Meredith



Category: B.A.P, Big Bang (Band), Block B, EXO (Band), Kpop - Fandom, SHINee, Super Junior, Teen Top (Band), f(x)
Genre: Discrimination, F/M, Fantastic Racism, Fights, In the future:, Korean Characters, M/M, Minor Character Death, Mpreg, Racism, Rape/Non-con References, Science Fiction, War, haircolor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-11
Updated: 2014-09-08
Packaged: 2017-12-08 04:37:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/757122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meredith/pseuds/Meredith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s the year 2251. Because of the Nuclear War part of the Korean population has blond hair. Due to inbreeding the black-haired people have grown infertile, so they’ve started experimenting with blond people and the third sex. Switches are another effect of the war, men who can carry children, but have all the other external features of males, though a bit fairer. The government tries to find every one of these experiments, before they can wreck havoc, but that turns out to be harder then they’d hoped.</p>
<p>Fifteen days ago Himchan’s older brother Eunhyuk was killed in a fight against the Purification Soldiers. Because they now there’ll be more PS, they run. But they don’t have much time, because Himchan is severely wounded and he’s getting closer and closer to death every day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prelude

2037\. Korea is destroyed with nuclear weapons during the third world war. All because the North decided it was a good idea to challenge America, Europe and South-East Asia all at once.

The rich anticipated the war and build shelters, deep underground, equipped to stay there for at least two generations.

The poor knew of the threat, but were unable to act and are forced to witness the war with front row view.

 

2109\. The first time the rich come out of their shelters since the beginning of the war, they are surprised to see there are people alive and living a life. All are Asian in that area of the world. And all are blond.

 

2116\. The first documented switch is born. Research shows that not only the gene for hair color is impaired, but that for gender, too. Instead of the known XX or XY combination, these people have three chromosomes. A woman has XXX or XXY and a man has XYY. But then a new gender is created. If one has the third chromosome Z in the combination XYZ or XXZ, one would have the physical appearances of a man, albeit a tad fairer. The large difference is that these people, called switches, are also able to conceive.

The black minority does not undergo this transition and is therefore shocked by it.

 

2121\. The descendants of the rich people who have hidden in the shelters, they who still have black hair, form a new government. The system that has worked democratic for decades, is no longer in use, although they stay cautious. They are still severely outnumbered.

 

2127\. It becomes painfully clear aversion for blonds grew with black-haired people. After all, they were once the poor and now their DNA is infected by radiation, making their hair that unnatural color. In some ways, they are sick.

 

2133\. It is forbidden to dye one’s hair. Hair color becomes a mark of social standing.

 

2143\. The first proposal for a race dividing law is turned down by the parliament. Two third of the votes is negative. Half the parliament is blond.

 

2160\. Only one fourth of the parliament is still blond. The second proposal is turned down by fifty-two percent.

 

2191\. The last blond member of the parliament is assassinated at home. According to the media a blond man was caught on security camera. Only three months later the race dividing law passes.

 

2199\. The XT-virus spreads like the plague had once done. It makes people unable to carry two X-chromosomes. All blond women and the switches with XXZ die. Men and the black-haired minority stay unaffected. Some people whisper it is all a medical setup, created by the rich to reduce the blond population. They are not wrong.

 

2204\. The last black-haired child is born. Due to inbreeding the black race is weakened and although they posses advanced medical technology they do not succeed in creating new life.

 

2243\. When the government releases a large number of blond children it becomes clear they have been experimenting with switch fertility for over two decades. However, every experiment turns out to be blond, since blond is a dominant gene. This knowledge raises a uproar under the blond majority.

 

2244\. To keep the people under their thumb, the government decides to revoke the release and declares any discarded experiments as non-human. They have no human rights and are to be mistreated freely.

 

2251\. Almost all discarded experiments are accounted for, with the exception of about hundred.


	2. Chapter 1

As far as sleeping arrangements went, they’d had far worse. Himchan cautiously eyed the street below from a second, and top, floor window of the small hospital they were resting at. Normally he would have opted for the ground floor and easy escape routes, but they hadn’t seen a soul in four days and the second floor had beds and the windows weren’t broken. Not all of them at least. The choice had been easily made.

The hospital was relatively intact, as was the rest of the town, so he assumed there hadn’t been much of a fight. Either the blonds had already left or they hadn’t resisted when the Purification Soldiers came. Himchan liked to  think it was the first, but he knew from experience that practically no one had been able to escape the purge. There was only one group of rebellions, notorious for avoiding the claws of the PS for seven years already, right from the start of this stupid war. That’s where they were headed for. It wouldn’t be easy to find them and they didn’t have much time left. Especially Himchan.

Himchan jumped out of his reverie when someone put a hand on his shoulder. Not even a second later he had a gun under the guy’s chin, though he immediately drew away. Kyuhyun let go at the same time Himchan put the gun back in the holster at his thigh.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, “just, don’t startle me like that, okay?” The man nodded and motioned to the door.

“What is it?” Himchan asked, even though he knew he wouldn’t get an answer. Kyuhyun hadn’t said a word in exactly fifteen days. Exactly as long as Eunhyuk had been dead.

 

Daehyun looked up when they entered the other room.

“We found some clean bandages so we can treat your wound.” Himchan’s hand unconsciously went to his side where his shirt was torn and bloody. The pieces of fabric they’d used to bandage his stomach hadn’t been changed for three days, simply because they didn’t have anything to replace it with. Himchan hadn’t complained even though it hurt like hell. They didn’t have time for self-pity. They had to keep moving.

Daehyun removed the dirty rags with one careful cut. He tried to keep his emotions hidden, because if there was anything they couldn’t use right now, it was Himchan getting discouraged, but he couldn’t help but widen his eyes in horrification. Himchan’s wound was definitely infected. The flesh hadn’t even closed entirely and the clothes were soaked not only in blood but in pus as well. Himchan pushed up on his arms to look and groaned, falling back to the floor.

“Himchan-“ Daehyun started, but the leader interrupted him.

“Just clean it, Daehyun. There’s nothing else we can do for now.” Daehyun reluctantly did as he was told, using a piece of bandage and the bottled water they had found. When he was done Kyunhyun had to help him sit up to put the bandage on. Himchan hated looking weak and they needed him not to be, but his body was betraying him. He wouldn’t be able to travel much longer. If they didn’t find T.O.P soon he wouldn’t even survive this. That is to say, hoping they actually had the means to take care of the mess that was now his side.

“Himchan,” Daehyun said, poking the wrinkles in his forehead, “Stop worrying for a second. We’re safe for now. At least get some sleep.” The leader wanted to protest, but Daehyun saw it coming.

“I’ll keep first watch,” he said, raising his voice so the others would hear it too, “I suggest Amber takes second and Kyuhyun can do the last. By then we’ll have to get moving again anyway.” The other two nodded without hesitation. They’d dragged two mattresses from the beds and pushed them together on the floor. As soon as Daehyun had helped Himchan lay down he felt his eyes drop, exhaustion kicking in.

Absently he registered Amber settling in on his left side and Kyuhyun on his right, were his wound was, careful not to hurt him, but still trying to share their body heat. It was then that he decided, once again, that he would do anything to keep these people as safe as possible.

 

Himchan woke up from someone yelling his name right next to his ear. Instantly he knew something was wrong, but it took several more seconds to actually get to his feet and see what was going on. Seconds they did not have.

They definitely were in deep shit. Resisting the urge to do something stupid, like go against six people with guns pointed at them and a seventh who held a knife to Amber’s throat – _fuck_ – he slowly lifted his hands. Daehyun shifted behind him, but he’d be shot before he’d be able to take even one of them down so Himchan stepped slightly in front of him. Kyuhyun would not be stupid enough to try anything with the vast disadvantage they had, especially with his sisters life on the line.

Himchan quickly inspected their attackers. They were all blond and he doubted any of them were older than him, but he recognized the same determination in their stance as his brother had had. These were no amateurs.

“Make one move and the switch dies,” said the second guy from the right. From what Himchan could make out of the other’s reaction, he was the leader, although he definitely wasn’t the oldest.

“We’re not looking for trouble,” Himchan said, directing his attention to the man who had spoken. He knew Daehyun and Kyuhyun would keep their eyes on the rest, so there would be no surprises anymore. The man wore a decrepit kaki jacket on top of a tank top that had probably been white in another day and age and his tattoos were visible. None of the others seemed particularly concerned about hiding the drawings that marked them as discarded experiments either. On a rational level Himchan understood there was no need for them to cover it up, but he and Daehyun had had no other choice when they went to live at the Rim. Experiments were treated as animals, or worse. They weren’t seen as human and therefore had no human rights. Even original blonds treated them differently and they knew what it was like to be suppressed. Still, even if they did hide their tattoos, they were too young to be naturally born, so they tried to go unnoticed as much as possible. It had worked until just a mere two weeks ago, but that line of thinking brought him too close to his brother’s death, so he reeled back and focused on the situation.

The guy he had spoken to sneered.

“Then what are you looking for?” he asked. Himchan carefully weighed their options only to come to the conclusion there was only one thing they could do. He looked all of them in the eye briefly, but again addressed the man he believed to be the leader when he answered.

“T.O.P.”

 

Two of the men actually lowered their guns, although Himchan suspected they only did it out of surprise, because several others became even more tense and their leader stepped forward. He stopped a good twenty inches from Himchan and looked him dead in the eye before slowly raising his gun to Himchan’s face. He felt Daehyun grow so rigged, he was more worried his boyfriend would do something stupid and get them all killed then he actually feared the threat at hand.

“T.O.P no longer exists,” the man pointed out in a mock-kind voice (that no one bought because of the gun in Himchan’s face), “But just for the record, who’s asking?” Himchan wasn’t panicking, yet, but it was cutting it close. If T.O.P really didn’t exist anymore, they were screwed, royally, but then again the man could be lying. Plus, if these seven weren’t part of T.O.P, there would have to be another organization of blond rebellions. So Himchan stayed mostly calm.

“My name is Himchan,” he said, then he paused a moment before continuing, “the men at my side are Kyuhyun and Daehyun and the one your friend is so eagerly holding is Amber.” The man he’d referred to didn’t even blink. If Himchan weren’t so eager to knock him out right now, he would’ve been impressed. The guy in front of him didn’t flinch either, but he did quirk an eyebrow at Himchan’s choice of words.

“Kris,” he said, and it took Himchan a second to realize he wasn’t talking to him, “Let the switch go.”

Now there was a note of emotion on the other’s face, like he didn’t agree with the order. Interesting. He didn’t say anything though. He just removed the knife from Amber’s throat and pushed her forward. Kyuhyun only barely managed to catch her and Himchan realized that they were taunting him. Pestering his friends to get a rage out of him. Well that wasn’t going to happen.

“Since we are now formally introduced, you wouldn’t mind returning the favor, would you?” he asked, in the same mock-kind voice the other man had used. For a moment the hospital, the whole village was eerily quiet. The man looked almost baffled and for a moment Himchan felt victorious, but then his eyes hardened and he harshly ordered for their wrists to be bound.

“Also blindfold them,” he added, as an afterthought, “Yongguk can decide their fate.”


	3. Chapter 2

Himchan did not like where this was going. They were in a car. A car! How the hell did a bunch of experiments get enough money for a car? Sadly, he knew the answer to that question first hand: they didn’t. Daehyun, Eunhyuk and he had not even had enough money to eat every day. Practically no one wanted to hire an experiment, so they had no stable source of income. When Eunhyuk met Kyuhyun things got slightly better, but even then Kyuhyun’s parents couldn’t give them much. From what Himchan had gathered Kyuhyun’s youngest brother had left home after a terrible fight with their parents. The subject had been the race-dividing law. After that Kyuhyun’s family tried to live as unnoticed as possible, because if their secret got out the whole country would be upside down.

Suddenly the car stopped. Himchan felt like they’d been riding for hours, his muscles sure ached one hell of a lot, but he’d never really had any experience with cars, so he had no idea how far they’d actually driven.

“Get up!”

A hand roughly grabbed his upper arm and pulled him out of the trunk. The gap in his side stung terribly.

“No need to be so friendly,” he grunted. He heard a gasp to his left and someone bumped into him.

“Himchan,” Daehyun huffed, “are you alright?” Himchan turned his head in relief and managed to bury his nose in Daehyun’s hair.

“’M fine,” he mumbled, barely able to keep the hitch out of his voice. Daehyun grumbled, “No you’re not,” before they were separated again. Hands guided them inside, Himchan knew because their footsteps sounded differently and there was no wind. There were stairs though, lots of them, and somehow Himchan felt like he should have known that the impossible-to-find rebellions would be underground.

They came to an abrupt halt when a door had to be opened and then they were pushed forward again.

“Keep them still,” the bossy guy ordered somewhere to Himchan’s left, “I’m going to get Yongguk.” Immediately after the door slammed shut someone started whispering, followed by a few others, and soon the room was filled with noise. Until a low voice, so low it didn’t even have to be raised to be heard, said, “Quiet”. Only that and everybody shut up instantly. Himchan imagined it being the man who had held Amber at knifepoint, because he’d given off a vibe of authority, even if he wasn’t the leader. There was no way of knowing though.

The door opened and closed again before a yet unknown voice ordered to remove their blindfolds. This voice was even lower than the other one, Himchan could practically feel it resonating in his chest. Then his blindfold was removed and he had to shut his eyes tightly against the sudden flash of light that hit them.

“Who are you?” the voice asked. He wasn’t unkind, but he had a I’m-not-in-the-mood-for-jokes sort of tone. When Himchan’s eyes finally got used to the light he looked up and met the man’s gaze. He was so much younger than expected, but the grimness of his eyes showed the experience of a much older person. Then again, they’d all seen far more horror in life than they should have had to, but that was the sad fate of those who lived during the war.

“My name is Himchan. This are Kyuhyun, Daehyun and Amber,” he said, deliberately not giving away any extra information. The man didn’t seem surprised though, he just nodded.

“I’m Yongguk, though I suppose you have already guessed that.” Surprised Himchan nodded once.

“Jongup told me you were looking for T.O.P.” he said and then paused for a second, as if to enable Himchan to correct him.

“Still are,” Himchan said after a second. Yongguk shook his head.

“T.O.P. doesn’t exist anymore. They were abolished two years ago already.”

“Then who are you?” Himchan asked, because no way in hell was he going to let this all be for nothing. Yongguk regarded him pensively and then sighed.

“You understand I cannot just tell you this unless I know the full purpose of your interest.” Himchan nodded in acknowledgement, but next to him Amber shifted.

“Himchan, don’t do it. You can’t just trust someone like him.” she said, but he shook his head at her and started talking.

“Two weeks ago we were attacked by a bunch of PS. We used to live at the Rim, but even there it’s not safe anymore and if there’s no place safe I’d rather be fighting than hiding. Everybody has heard of the notorious T.O.P., that they’re the only blonds who can escape the PS. So we went looking for them.”

“And you wanted to join their ranks?” Yongguk added, “that’s quite ambitious. What do you think would make you worth it?” Himchan frowned. Hadn’t he just explained that they’d been attacked by PS? Was them being alive not proof enough that they were capable of handling themselves? For a moment he considered telling Yongguk about  Eunhyuk, but he almost immediately rejected that thought. If he was to gain their trust, it would be without using his brother’s name.

“We can fight,” he said instead. The bossy guy, Jongup, snorted and stood from where he’d been leaning against the wall.

“Didn’t put up much of a fight when we caught you,” he taunted, but Yongguk ignored him.

“We’ll see about that. You can prove your worth later, for now-”

“Why should we?” Himchan asked, cutting the man off. “Why should we prove ourselves to you?” For a few seconds Yongguk stared at him intently and then he actually smiled.

“Because we are what you are looking for. We are B.A.P.”

 

They were given food. Again, Himchan didn’t like it one bit. Who would give their prisoners food? And not just any food, but fruit and rise. One had to make quite some money to afford fruits. When the men had taken them to another room he had expected something far less pleasant, but he still couldn’t relax. Yongguk had called them B.A.P., but what did that mean? Were they a new group of rebellions? Or something entirely different? Yongguk had left, too. They were seated at a low table, Himchan and Kyuhyun in the middle, Daehyun to Himchan’s left and Amber to her brother’s right. None of them had touched their food. They were waiting for Himchan to give them the okay, but they knew it probably wouldn’t come.

There were only three men with them in the room. One of them was the one who had threatened Amber. He was standing next to the wall, without leaning against it. For the second time Himchan had to fight down the notion of respect he felt for the man, because let’s face it, he was a douche.

The second man was another of the party that had taken them capture. His hair was short and dirty, except at the back, where there were long dreads that easily reached his middle. He was amusing himself by biting his fingernails.

The third man was new and might have even been a switch, but Himchan knew appearances could be deceiving so he wasn’t putting it down as a fact.

Suddenly the ass who’d threatened Amber - okay, maybe he was prejudged, so what - sighed.

“Why aren’t you eating?” he said in a deep voice. Himchan had been right before.

“Why do you think?” Amber grumbled, “Asshole.” Himchan had to bend his head down to hide the grin that flashed over his face. The girl had character, he had to give her that. The man didn’t seem to find it very funny though. He stormed forward and grabbed an apple from her plate before biting it and throwing it right back. Amber didn’t even flinch.

“It’s not poisoned, bitch, now eat.” He didn’t raise his voice, but there was a dangerous edge to it that made Himchan cringe slightly. He reached out and took a bite of his own apple. After all, he didn’t see any use being stubborn about a proven fact. They hadn’t seen decent food in two weeks and he could feel himself weaken by the minute. If there was to be no fainting during the rest of the day, he needed to refuel.

Kris returned to his spot next to the door with a somewhat smug expression and if Himchan wasn’t so hungry he’d be more pissed off, but given the situation he let it go.


	4. Chapter 3

“We want you to fight.” Himchan had seen this coming, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to protest.

“Let me guess,” he said, “you want to see how capable we actually are.” Jongup scoffed and Amber rolled her eyes at him. Really, someone should teach the boy some manners.

“As I said before,” Yongguk explained, “we are B.A.P. After T.O.P. stepped down, I took over as the new leader. Those who wished to follow me are still under my command, but some have left together with T.O.P. We’re basically the same, only the name has changed. The government doesn’t know of this change yet, and we’d like to keep it that way for a while longer.

The reason I want you to fight is because I don’t have the time or resources to care for people who’re only going to be a burden. So if you’re going to stay, you’re going to prove yourself first.”

Carefully Himchan filed away every bit of information for later. In every tale he’d been told, T.O.P. had been the name of the group, but apparently they were named after their leader. And if the man T.O.P. had left, where did he go? Nowhere was safe anymore. There were so many questions and Himchan had a feeling that Yongguk wasn’t telling the whole story. If he ever did, Himchan would have to be able to connect the dots.

“What did you have in mind?” he asked, a bit wary because of the large number of people present. With the infection of his wound he wouldn’t be able to do much and if their faith was to be decided based on his fighting skill… they’d be screwed.

“How about best two out of three? You only have to win two matches and you can stay. You fight the first one against me, afterwards two of  your friends can chose an opponent freely. How does that sound?” Yongguk’s proposition was pretty generous, but it still played out badly for them. Himchan would have to go first and there was just no way he could win, so whoever he let fight would have to win. Kyuhyun could handle it he supposed, although he didn’t know how good any of these people were, but he simply didn’t like this scenario.

“Well?” Yongguk asked and Himchan couldn’t help feeling like he was walking into a trap eyes wide open. Jongup and dreads-guy were grinning dangerously and generally just not soothing his discomfort.

“Fine.”

Immediately Daehyun pulled down his mask. Yongguk’s eyes widened slightly at the sight, but they all had their scars, so he didn’t comment. The story would probably be told in the future anyway.

“Himchan, no!” the young man said, barely controlling his voice, “We can do it! You don’t have to fight. I won’t let you.” Daehyun firmly gripped Himchan shoulder as he mumbled the last part so only they could hear it. But Himchan shook his head and pried Daehyun’s hand of his shoulder.

“It’s not that easy,” he said, “This fight, it’s a issue of honor, leader against leader. I have no choice.”

“Then tell him you’re hurt. He seems reasonable. He won’t make you fight if he knows.”

“You heard him before, Dae, they don’t have time or means to care for someone who is only a burden. I really have to fight. There is simply no other way.”

Daehyun was mad. Himchan just wouldn’t listen, although it obviously was too dangerous for him to fight. He didn’t stand a chance and his wound hadn’t even closed yet. This was madness.

“Fine. Have it your way,” he spit, “But you’re being unnecessarily stubborn.” With a furious huff Daehyun pulled his mask back up and resumed his place next to Kyuhyun.

“Can we begin now?” Yongguk asked, almost coming across as amused.

Himchan glanced back to the others one last time before straightening his stance.

“I’m ready.”

 

Daehyun was so, so right. How could he have ever doubted that? Himchan’s fighting technique concentrated on killing his opponent. He was remarkably good with guns, so he preferred giving cover from a distance above fighting one on one. That’s how he’d gotten hurt, too. He’d been behind a low wall, shooting at the PS while the others fought them face to face. In the beginning he’d thought of himself as a coward, but his brother had noticed and had reassured him that his talent and aim would be a foolish waste if they went unused.

Then Eunhyuk was killed, shot in the head at close range. Somehow Himchan had expected everything to go quiet and slow, but it didn’t. The fight continued just as loud and just as brutal as before. He closed off his mind and focused on his task, continued putting down PS at a steady rhythm. But it could only take so long before they figured out his position. He saw the sniper the exact moment the sniper saw him. They shot at the same time. And they both went down.

All in all they’d been lucky that there was a limited number of PS at the Rim, otherwise they’d have been wiped out completely. But with Eunhyuk dead and Himchan heavily wounded, they definitely wouldn’t survive a second attack, so they left immediately.

Himchan clearly remembered how Kyuhyun’s parents had looked when they said goodbye to two of their children. How relieved they were that Amber would not be there when the PS came to investigate the fight. After all, she was a woman, the last woman.

So no, Himchan wasn’t faring well in this fight against Yongguk. He might have had a chance if he wasn’t bleeding out, but as it was, he got his ass kicked and handed back to him.

Okay no, that’s not how it went. Amber would later argument that he’d held his own surprisingly long, but that one well-placed kick to the chest got him down. She’d also grumble that there was no way Yongguk hadn’t noticed he was wounded and that the man was a jerk for continuing anyway. Later, they would all look back on the event as one of the very rare moments that Daehyun lost it completely.

When Himchan hit the ground and Yongguk advanced to hit again, Daehyun was on him before anyone even registered him moving. Yongguk only realized something was off when he was already on the ground with a knife against his throat.

“Don’t touch him,” Daehyun hissed in his face, pure hate and rage evident in his eyes. Before Yongguk could even react the man had already sprung up again and moved to Himchan’s side.

“God damn it, Himchan, you stubborn ass,” he mumbled as he cut the man’s shirt open. He was so focused he didn’t even notice Kris until the barrel was against his temple. Everybody froze. Kris didn’t use guns. He only carried one in case he had to take someone down over too long a distance for throwing blades. He never _ever_ shot someone at close range.

“Don’t. Move.”

And ironically, it’s like that broke the spell. Yongguk jumped upright before anyone had the chance to help him, dreads-guy and the -potential- switch kept Amber and Kyuhyun from reaching their friends as two men hurried to take away Daehyun’s knife. Through a cough, Himchan grimaced at him.

“Not one of my best ideas, huh?” he mumbled, twisting the fingers of his right hand in the fabric of Daehyun’s pants.

“The worst yet,” the man snorted weakly before growing serious again. “I should have stopped you. I shouldn’t have listened to you. I could take him. I could-”

“You did nothing wrong,” Himchan interrupted. “Don’t go thinking any of this is your fault, because it isn’t. A lot of shit has happened through the years and most of it was out of our hands, but we have to keep trying, okay? No giving up.”

The sound of a safety switch being turned off interrupted their conversation. In one second, it seemed, everybody had changed places. Except Kris. And that they’d been talking while the man still had a gun against Daehyun’s head was so completely unintelligible that Himchan’s stomach turned. Daehyun gasped as Himchan surged and rolled on his side just fast enough to puke on the floor and not all over himself. Then the room toppled and he lost consciousness.


	5. Chapter 4

Himchan woke up to a splitting headache, but the fact that he woke up at all helped make up for the pain. Even then, he only had time for that one thought before he passed out again.

The next time he surfaced he was able to open his eyes without the light splitting through his skull like a laserbeam. Daehyun was there, sitting on the floor next to his bed, although Himchan doubted it was really a bed and not just a mattress on the floor seeing the distance to the ceiling and to his boyfriend.

“Hey,” he croaked out, voice breaking on that one word and mouth too dry to clear his throat. Daehyun’s eyes immediately flicked up from whatever he was reading. They showed such tremendous relief Himchan was taken aback for a moment, but Daehyun carefully touched his hand and the contact kind of overrode everything else.

“Hey,” Daehyun whispered back, smiling softly. “They said they weren’t sure you’d make it, but that if you woke up you’d probably be out of danger.” The words took a while to process, but once they did Himchan grimaced.

“Probably?” Daehyun frowned while taking a half empty bottle of water and opening it, supporting Himchan’s head as he took little swigs.

“Yeah well, there’s not really a doctor here, you know, but they do have some experience with open wounds and they definitely have better things then found bandages and bottled water.” The sentence trailed off as Himchan choked and coughing turned out to hurt like a bitch.

“But?” Himchan wheezed, not wanting any surprises later. Daehyun rolled his eyes at his impatience.

“But you need this thing, uhm, antibiotics? You need medication they don’t have to fight the infection.” For the first time since waking up Himchan caught onto the other important part of the conversation.

“They? B.A.P.? They let us stay? What happened?” But Daehyun was already shaking his head and pushing him gently back down.

“Yes, Yongguk let us stay. Everything’s fine. Nobody else got severally hurt. Except maybe Jongup’s pride.” At the last part Daehyun’s eyes kind of glazed over in an expression Himchan was surprised to identify as _glee_.

“It was fucking beautiful,” Daehyun continued, “Kyuhyun totally kicked his ass in like, twenty seconds. I think Yongguk actually smiled. But you should rest and I shouldn’t tell you these things with the state you’re in.” Himchan’s eyebrows jerked up at the complete topic change, but he could feel the exhaustion settling heavy in his bones himself and didn’t fight the pull. He smiled reassuringly at his boyfriend, squeezing his hand tightly before closing his eyes and drifting off.

 

Waking up was a lot easier this time. It was completely dark, but since they were underground it was impossible to tell what time it really was. When Himchan tried to sit up something fell of his forehead and hit his chest with a wet slap. Probably a cold towel to help keep his fever down; he was burning up.

Once his eyes got used to the minimal amount of light in the room he took in his surroundings. The bare mattress that served as his bed was pushed into the furthest corner from the door. A thin stripe of yellow light fell through, which explained the fact that it wasn’t completely dark. The room was very basic. Some metal closets lined the wall across Himchan’s bed. He guessed they held antiseptics and whatever medical stuff B.A.P. managed to get a hold of.

There was only one other bed in the room - an actually bed with a thick mattress and sheets – and it was occupied as well. Himchan tried craning his neck enough to see who it was, but a sudden stab in his side forced him back down. No sitting up, then.

After locating the water bottle next to his bed and almost draining it completely Himchan contemplated what Daehyun had told him earlier. If Kyuhyun beat Jongup, did that mean Amber fought as well? Himchan doubted they’d let Daehyun choose an opponent after the stunt he pulled to protect Himchan, so that would mean Amber won as well. Unless she didn’t. Unless she was the person in the other bed and was hurt so badly, Yongguk took pity on them and decided he’d let them stay since half of them was mortally wounded. Needless to say, Himchan hoped very hard that the person in the other bed wasn’t Amber.

Just as he was about to hoist himself up anyway to check, the door opened further. In a reflex he held still, pretending to sleep. Soft footsteps drew closer, but they stopped earlier than Himchan’s bed. Whoever it was, he was not here for Himchan.

“Youngjae?”

It was barely more than a whisper, but Himchan heard the other bed creak anyway.

“What do you want?” a second voice said, louder than the first.

“Shh,” the first replied, “you’ll wake him.”

“So? It’s not like there’s anything exciting going on anyway.”

Himchan had to hold back a chuckle. He was about ninety percent sure the person who came in was Jongup, but the other he didn’t recognize. He deserved respect for sassing Jongup, though.

Jongup sighed deeply, as if they argued frequently.

“I just came to check on you; see how you are doing,” he mumbled, sounding defeated.

“Still the same as last time you came. And the time before that,” the other said, exasperated.

“I just wanted to be sure you’re okay.” Needless to say Himchan was surprised by Jongup’s ability to be anything other than an arrogant jerkface. He seemed to really care for this man.

“We’re fine.”

_We_? Who was we? Himchan sincerely doubted he was included in the topic of conversation, but there were only three people in the room, so who was the other guy talking about?

“Has he been a good boy?” Jongup asked, and this time there was something in his voice that could only be described as fondness.

“Not at all,” Youngjae sighed, although he too sounded more fond than annoyed now. “He keeps kicking.”

_Oh_.

That explained so much, actually.

“Is he awake right now?” Jongup asked and if it wasn’t for the joy in his voice Himchan would’ve thought he’d been discovered.

“Yeah, he’s restless. That’s why I wasn’t sleeping either.”

“Can I…” Jongup trailed off in uncertainty, although his intentions weren’t hard to guess.

“Yeah,” Youngjae whispered, making Himchan feel like an intruder, “Come here.” The bed creaked again and Youngjae laughed softly.

“Careful.”

Jongup mumbled something too soft to hear, before things went quiet. Himchan thought they’d fall asleep like that, all of them, but he was roused from his slumber when Jongup let out a surprised gasp.

“Did you feel that?” he asked, clearly too excited to keep his voice down. Youngjae laughed and shushed him.

“Of course I felt it, you idiot, he’s inside me.”

Jongup snorted out a muffled laugh. He’d probably shoved his head into a pillow or something.

“Oh baby,” he sniggered, “your dirty talk is truly exquisite.”

“Dirty talk?” Youngjae started before realization dawned on him. “Oh my god, Jongup, can’t you think of anything but sex for one second?”

“Not when you’re around, I can’t.”

Himchan winced at that, because really? Was that supposed to be romantic or something? Who raised this guy?

The next five minutes consisted of Himchan fruitlessly trying to ignore the unmistakable sounds coming from the other side of the room.

“Jongup,” Youngjae moaned, “we’re not alone here.”

_Exactly_ , Himchan thought, _stop it, you two_. Unfortunately Jongup didn’t seem to agree.

“When has that ever stopped us?”

“I’m serious, Jongup. I’m not having sex in the same room as a guy who could possibly be dead before the end of the week.”

_Thank you, Youngjae, for those considerate words_.

“Fine,” Jongup grumbled, “but only if you suck me next time.”

Really? Himchan gagged. He did not want to know that.

“You know I’d do that anyway, right?”

Someone needed to put a stop to this immediately. Himchan hit his palm against the mattress and moaned something unintelligible. To his relieve the other two shut up and it didn’t take long for him to fall back asleep.


End file.
